


Jenny's Beginning

by Ray_Writes



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: By the end anyway, Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End, Episode Fix-It: s04e13 Journey's End, F/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 13:31:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15001919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: Destiny reunites a family in order to save all of reality.





	Jenny's Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TKelParis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TKelParis/gifts).



> Happy belated birthday, TKelParis! As requested, a Jenny-in-Journey's-End fic. Probably should mention, any recognizable dialogue does not belong to me, I'm merely making alterations as I see fit. Hope you (and any other readers) enjoy!

Things had not been as simple as saving planets, rescuing civilizations, and running, much to the disappointment of a certain brand new Time Lord. Time Lady? Jenny wasn’t actually sure. She’d not gotten the clarification from her dad before she hadn’t died.

The longer she went on traveling on her own, the less sure she felt about doing so. Not that she wished she’d stayed on Messaline. But maybe she ought to have checked if there was a way to get in touch with her family before striking out for the universe.

As exciting as it all was...it felt rather lonely. Jenny remembered Donna suggesting she come along with them and her dad agreeing and thought if she just had the ability to go back and change it she would. She missed them so much sometimes it felt like a physical pain, a loss of some part of her she didn’t know how to get back.

She’d stopped in the hopes of refueling on a moon called Poosh but so far hadn’t had much luck. And it seemed a rather uninteresting place to boot.

Except for the part when the sky suddenly changed, and they were surrounded by a bunch of other planets.

“Is this normal?” She asked one of the locals as he passed. The pale green man screamed and continued running. “Guess not.”

A number of ships began to descend out of the darkened sky, a single word being broadcast from all of them: “ _ Exterminate _ !”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Jenny said to herself. A second later, she was running to her ship.

She’d yet to make use of the weaponry on board, and she was loathe to actually take aim at a living thing — but maybe a few warning shots just to let them know that Poosh wasn’t defenseless. Not while she was around.

Jenny took off into the air for a good vantage point and veered towards the center of the formation of incoming ships. She took one warning shot and that was all she was to be allowed.

A hail of lasers struck the shields of her ship, systematically tearing through their weak points. Her rocket was knocked wildly off course into a tailspin, which took her out into the darkened planet-studded sky. Jenny worked feverishly at the controls, trying to regain a sense of direction, but nothing was responding. All kinds of error messages were popping up on the screens. Her shields were down, the primary engine had received critical damage, life support systems were barely online.

What  _ were _ those other ships? She’d never encountered anything half so deadly.

There was some kind of ground coming up on her side fast. She didn’t know if it was Poosh’s or somewhere else’s. But the ship’s alarm was blaring in her ears even though there was no maneuver available to avoid it.

She braced for the crash and hoped whatever had brought her back after Cobb’s shot was still working.

There was a great screech and crunch of metal. Sparks flew and bags full of air popped out of various hidden compartments, buffeting her about a bit. Jenny felt the wind knocked out of her, but there was no sharp pain or telling crack of a bone. It could have been minutes or hours, but gradually her old programming kicked in, and Jenny began to extricate herself from the wreckage like any proper soldier. The fight wasn’t over.

She half-rolled, half-fell onto pavement, coughing and blinking up at the strange sky.

“Different planets…” Jenny muttered. Or perhaps the same ones, but from a different angle. She had no idea where she was.

“Are you alright?”

A blonde woman with a huge gun came running up to her.

“I think so,” Jenny groaned. Trying to stand proved difficult; she may not have broken anything, but something was definitely sprained.

“You’re bleeding,” the woman told her. Jenny lifted a hand to her forehead, and it came away wet. “Hold on, this a rocket. Where’d you come from? Are you from one of the other planets?”

“Not really. Got in a bit of a fight with those other ships.”

“With the Daleks?” They way she said Daleks seemed to indicate that had not been good.

Jenny shrugged, then winced as that too seemed to hurt. “I guess so. I probably need a doctor, don’t I?”

“Yeah, you and me both,” the woman muttered, which hardly made sense to Jenny. She wasn’t injured. The woman looked about wildly. “Look, I haven’t really got time for this. I’ve got to find him.”

“Find who?”

But she was already backing away. “There’s this family, it’s not too far, that way!” The woman pointed in the opposite direction. “Just tell them I sent you!”

“Wait, I don’t even know your name,” said Jenny, struggling to regain her feet once more, though favoring her left leg. “Or if I can get there on my own.”

“Well, get inside somewhere then. It’s not safe on the street. The Daleks will be through here any minute.”

“Then what’s that?” Asked Jenny, pointing at the strangest blue box as it descended from the sky and landed several blocks away.

“It’s him,” the woman breathed, a smile spreading across her lips. Then she broke into a run.

“Wait! Wait for me, please!” Jenny went hobbling after her. There was no way she was making it here without any sort of weapon, so sticking with that woman was the best chance she had.

Jenny pushed through the pain that only grew worse with every step she took, keeping her eyes fixed ahead to where she’d seen that box disappear behind the rooftops. She was so focused on that she rounded a corner and nearly barreled into the woman who’d come to a stop in the middle of an empty street.

The woman didn’t even turn to acknowledge her. Her eyes were fixed on a couple standing at the other end of the street and staring back at her.

A very familiar couple.

Jenny felt herself take in a great gasp of air as her father’s eyes jumped from the other woman’s face to hers. They widened, and he faltered a half step as if unsure in which direction he was moving.

Just behind him, she saw Donna’s mouth drop open. Her dad turned to look at her, and Jenny watched them exchange a few brief words. Donna laid a hand on his arm and nodded, eyes shining brightly in the light cast off by the street lamps.

Her dad faced towards them again, shock and disbelief giving way to wonder. Then he took one step and another, and he was running to her, Donna only two steps behind.

The woman started running to close the distance as well. Jenny didn’t think her own legs would hold up, and there was a lump rising in her throat that made it impossible to call out. She couldn’t believe it. She’d done it. She’d found her family.

Out of the corner of Jenny’s eye, she caught movement. One of the strangest creatures she’d ever seen was rolling forward with one mechanical arm pointed straight at her dad. “No!”

He staggered to a halt, but the creature shouted, “ _ Exterminate _ !” and fired.

His whole body lit up a terrible blue, skeleton showing briefly before he crumpled, Donna just managing to catch him as they both went down.

An anguished scream left her. Jenny spotted the woman’s gun lying abandoned on the ground and she heaved it into her arms — only for the hateful creature to explode seemingly on its own. Then she caught sight of the man who had appeared out of thin air and shot it. But there were more important things to worry about.

The woman had pulled her dad’s head into her lap and was clearly struggling not to cry. Donna watched with one hand over her mouth and the other half-extended towards him. To Jenny, it seemed as though she were holding herself back for unknown reasons.

“I've got you. It missed you,” the woman insisted despite all other evidence. “Look, it's me, Doctor.”

“Jenny?” Her dad’s voice was so faint, she almost didn’t hear it.

“No, it’s me, Doctor. Rose. I’m back.”

“But...Jenny. I saw—”

“Who’s Jenny?”

“It’s me,” Jenny breathed to herself. Then, louder, “It’s me! It’s me, dad,” she dumped the gun and limped over before her legs finally gave out and she dropped down at his side. “I’m here.”

“Dad?” Rose echoed.

“Jenny.” Her dad managed something like a smile as his eyes found her face. “You’re really here. How can that be?”

“It’s sort of a long story. But you’ve got to stay alive now. All that stuff you said we’d do, remember?”

Jenny looked up as a little sob escaped Donna. “We only just got you back and now this. Oh God.”

“It’ll be alright,” her dad mumbled, though it seemed to do little to reassure the woman Jenny privately thought of as something of a mother.

“Doctor, why did she call you ‘dad’?” Rose was asking. “Who is she?”

“We need to move him,” the man who had shot the thing that shot her dad had made his way over to them as well. He kept looking around, gun at the ready. “Into the TARDIS, before any more Daleks show up.”

Jenny could only watch as the other three heaved her father’s body up from the ground, and she followed them inside the blue box she’d seen come down from the sky. Even if her own body was protesting all this movement, and she was sure she’d have to squeeze to fit, she needed to be there.

Only the box was much larger inside than the outside indicated.

“Oh,” she gasped, looking around the space with wonder. None of the others seemed remotely surprised.

“What do we do?” Donna was asking. “There must be some medicine or something.”

“Just step back,” the man instructed as they lowered her father’s body to the ground. He had to tug on Rose’s arm because the woman had been attempting to pull her dad’s head back into her lap. “Rose, do as I say, and get back. He’s dying, and you know what happens next.”

“What do you mean? He can’t, not with Jenny here,” Donna insisted, her voice wavering badly.

Seeing an opening, Jenny finally piped up. “What happens next?” Could it be at all like what had happened to her? Jenny wasn’t entirely sure how she had survived Cobb’s shot, whether it had been the Source or some other miracle, but if it could happen to her dad as well she was all for it.

“Oh no,” said Rose. “I came all this way.”

“What do you mean? What happens next?” Donna repeated.

Jenny’s eyes widened as one of her father’s hands started to glow. “It’s happening again,” she breathed.

“It’s starting,” her dad agreed.

The unknown man had gathered Donna and Rose at his sides. “Here we go. Good luck, Doctor!”

Donna reached for Jenny’s arm to move her away as the glow began spreading to her dad’s other hand. She looked around at all of them, panic in her eyes. “Will someone please tell me what is going on?”

“When he’s dying, his, er, his body, it repairs itself. It changes.”

“Changes?” Jenny echoed. That hadn’t happened to her.

Rose didn’t seem to hear her. Her eyes were fixed on her father, who was struggling to his feet, and she cried, “But you can’t!”

“I’m sorry, it’s too late,” he told them. “I’m regenerating.”

Then he burst into flames.

Jenny stumbled backwards on her bad leg, half-collapsing into Donna’s side. Had she looked like that when she came back to life?

Through shielded eyes, she watched as the fire suddenly shot away from her dad and towards a jar she hadn’t noticed sitting at the base of the machine that was at the heart of this room. Then the flames went out and standing in her dad’s place...was her dad.

“Now then. Where were we?”

Jenny was as stunned as the rest of them. Her dad was okay!

He bent down to the jar, which Jenny could now see held a hand suspended in some type of liquid.

“You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me.” Her dad took a moment to preen for them all. “So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand. Remember?” He seemed to be asking Rose specifically. “Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand.” He pointed to it again. “Actually, that’s the hand that was so excited when we were headed to Messaline…”

Rose stepped towards him, distracting him from that particular train of thought. “You’re still you?”

“I’m still me.”

Jenny watched the woman hug him. She wanted to go over herself, but her leg seemed to have given up on her for the time being. And she wasn’t sure she was meant to intrude.

From beside her, Donna gave a sharp exclamation. “Oh God, Jenny, you’re hurt!”

“What?” In an eye blink, her father had appeared at her other side. “You’re bleeding.”

“I think it’s mostly stopped, now, actually. Probably looks worse than it is. My leg’s what’s really bothering me.”

She watched her dad and Donna exchange a look, then they each took her by an arm.

“Let’s sit you down, then, get your weight off it,” Donna suggested. They led her to the only chair in the room.

“What happened to you?” Her dad asked, eyes jumping from her face to her injuries and back as he crouched in front of her.

“Just a crash landing.”

“Doctor?” Jenny almost jumped. She’d forgotten the others were here. Rose took a step to place herself at her father’s side. “She called you dad, before.”

“She did?” Asked the unknown man.

“Yep,” answered her dad.

“Care to elaborate?”

Her dad scowled with minor annoyance and looked up at them. “What’s there to elaborate on, Captain? I’m her father.”

“But how?  _ When _ ?” Rose demanded. She looked between Jenny and her dad with something like horror. “It can’t have been — I mean, not after I—”

Before she could finish, the lights in the room died with no warning.

“What’s that?” Donna asked, one of her hands landing on Jenny’s shoulder. She felt some reassurance at the contact.

Especially since her dad stood back up and turned to the control panel of his ship. “They've got us. Power's gone. Some kind of chronon loop.”

The whole room tilted sharply, and then she could feel they were being moved somehow. Jenny had a feeling it was involuntary.

“There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets,” Jack told them. “They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination.”

Her dad nodded, though he was frowning in thought.

“You said these planets were like an engine,” Donna reminded him. “But what for?”

He nodded again, though this time with something closer to a look of appreciation. “Rose, you've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?”

“Doctor, she’s not really your daughter, is she?” Rose asked.

Jenny frowned. “So what if I am?”

“There’s no time to explain about Jenny, Rose,” her dad said, drawing the woman’s attention back to him before she could do much more than give Jenny a sharp look. “I need to know what’s happening, what the Daleks are planning.”

Rose shrugged. “It’s the darkness.”

“The stars were going out,” Donna said.

“One by one,” the other woman agreed. “We looked up at the sky, and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this, er, this travel machine, this- this er, dimension cannon, so I could — well, so I could…”

“What?” Her dad prompted. 

“So I could come back,” she admitted with a shy grin. “Anyway, suddenly, it started to work, and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything.”

“In that parallel world, you said something about me,” Donna spoke up again.

Rose nodded. “The dimension cannon could measure timelines, and it's- it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you.”

“But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick.”

Jenny frowned. Did Donna really believe that? After she’d unraveled the truth behind the entire war on Messaline? After she’d helped Jenny’s father to see that she was more than just an unfortunate accident or a soldier?

A screen on the ship’s console beeped.

“The Dalek Crucible. All aboard,” her father remarked, face grim.

“ _ The TARDIS is secured _ ,” they heard a voice report, the same voice Jenny had only heard utter one word until now.

“ _ Doctor, you will step forth or die _ .”

“We’ll have to go out,” her father said.

“Wait, but they don’t know about Jenny,” said Donna. “They haven’t seen her. Can’t we hide her, give her an escape? Jack,” she pleaded, turning to the Captain.

“My vortex manipulator went down with the power loss,” he told her apologetically. Then he looked to Rose. “What about your dimension jump? They haven’t seen you either. Could you take her?”

“It needs another twenty minutes. And anyway, I’m not leaving.”

“Right then.” Her dad drew in a breath. “All of us together. Yeah. Donna?”

Jenny tilted her head back and noticed that Donna was staring off into space somewhere. Her dad took a couple steps and placed his hands on her upper arms.

“Donna?”

She blinked and focused on him. “Yeah.”

“I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do.”

She nodded and even tried a smile. “No, I know.”

From outside, the awful screeching voice of a Dalek commanded, “ _ Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters. _ ”

“ _ Crucible on maximum alert, _ ” stated the second one.

“Daleks,” said Rose.

Jack was much more open with how he felt. “Oh God.”

Jenny’s dad was clearly trying to put on a brave face for them all. “It’s been good though, hasn’t it? All of us. All of it. Everything that we did.” He looked to each of them in turn, going down the line from Rose to Jack to Donna. “You were brilliant. And you were brilliant. And you were brilliant.”

He turned at last to Jenny and took her face between his hands. “And you were amazing.” Then he kissed her forehead. “Blimey.” His voice sounded shaky, but still he turned and strode down the ramp and out the doors.

“Dad.” Jenny made to follow, but Rose cut across her before she could struggle back to her feet. Jack was skirting around Donna on the other side of the console, though she hardly seemed to notice. She looked far away again.

“Donna?” Jenny asked.

At the same time, her dad’s voice called, “Donna? You’re no safer in there.”

Donna shook her head, coming back to herself. “Right. Here, Jenny, let me help you up.”

Donna had only just reached the jump seat when the TARDIS doors snapped shut.

“What was that?” Jenny asked.

“I don’t know. Wait here.” Donna hurried down to the doors. “Doctor? Doctor, what have you done?”

“It wasn’t me!” Came her father’s voice through the door. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Oi!” Donna kept rattling the handle to no avail. “Oi, we’re not staying behind!”

Her dad was shouting at someone outside, though Jenny couldn’t make out the words. Only the low growl of a Dalek’s reply.

“Doctor!” Donna shouted.

There was a sudden  _ lurch _ , and then Jenny had the sensation of falling despite not moving from her chair. But they  _ were _ falling.

The TARDIS was falling.

“What’s happening?” She cried.

“They dropped us! Down the incinerator!”

Donna came staggering back up the ramp towards her, but the increased shaking of the ship knocked the woman to her knees. Jenny’s attempt to get to her left her landing hard on the floor. Fires were beginning to spring up around them and small roundels started to explode.

“What do we do?”

But Donna didn’t appear to hear her. Her gaze had fixed on the hand in the jar, which had begun to glow just as brightly as when her dad had shot the regeneration energy into it. She seemed entranced, her arm slowly extending towards it.

“Donna, wait!” Jenny reached out at the last moment, her hand closing over Donna’s. The both of them became engulfed in a gold light.

It wasn’t quite the fire that had been her father’s near-regeneration. Instead, the light seemed to rush over and through her, then to Donna and vice versa. The air was practically singing with it.

The light receded, leaving them staring in shock at where the hand had been. It was gone now.

The TARDIS gave another shudder.

“Oh God!” Donna cried. She staggered to her feet. “I can try and get us out of here. I don’t know if it’ll work!”

“Let me help!” Said Jenny, springing to her feet and abruptly taking notice of the fact that her legs were both capable of that again. She was healed and energized.

Donna ended up doing most of the work. Jenny knew about flying, but these controls were totally unfamiliar to her. About the only thing she knew to do was take the parking brake off. The ship shuddered a bit more and then stopped.

“Did it work? Are we safe?”

“I’m not sure. It didn’t make the sound it does when we dematerialize.” Donna stepped back, hands brushing her bangs back from a sweaty forehead. “But it’s less hot now. Here, the scanner should have something.”

Jenny followed her around the console, noting that the small fires that had started throughout the ship were dying down. When she got a look at the screen, it showed they were hidden somewhere in amongst the various stolen planets.

“Well, that answers that. Now if we could just figure out what that whole bit about his hand was, we’d really be in business.” Donna turned to face her. “Are you okay? You shouldn’t be moving around like that.”

“My leg doesn’t hurt anymore, and the cut on my head is gone,” Jenny told her. “I think it healed me like it did dad. What about you?”

Donna shook her head. “I wasn’t hurt before. I just feel normal. Except — Oh!”

“What’s wrong?”

“My chest.” Donna laid a hand over the right side. “I dunno, it’s like I can feel something in there. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just different. I don’t understand.”

Jenny looked about for something that might help. She spotted a familiar blue jacket slung over one of the coral struts. “Dad’s stethoscope!”

It took a few minutes of searching, but she eventually pulled it out of one of the pockets and rushed back to Donna. Jamming the buds in her ears, Jenny placed the other end first on one side and then the other to listen.

“Sounds normal.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yep!”

Donna visibly relaxed. “Must’ve just panicked, then. Listen to me going on about chest pains, meanwhile you’re here — I can’t believe you’re alive!”

Jenny found herself seized in a hug, which she was very happy to return.

“I didn’t really understand it myself, but I must have regenerated like dad did if it’s a Time Lord thing. When I woke up, you and Martha had all left.”

Donna pulled back to look at her. “Oh God, Jenny. I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean to leave you behind.”

She shrugged. “I understand. Anyway, I decided to head out on my own. Took the settlers’ rocket since they weren’t using it and had some adventures.”

A smile rose to Donna’s lips that Jenny felt could be called proud. “Well, you’re your father’s daughter for certain. How long have you been traveling?”

“Just some months. It’s been fun, but...lonely. I was thinking of looking for you, but I had no idea where to begin. I only ended up on Poosh because I needed to refuel. It wasn’t like I knew this was gonna happen.”

“The Lost Moon of Poosh,” Donna said. “That was one of the planets the Daleks took out of time and space. So you arriving there must have coincided with when they took it.”

“Yeah. And I guess it ended up working out because you and dad are here, too.” Jenny smiled. “So, assuming this ends well, we can travel together, right? Be a family. The three of us, like you said in the tunnels.”

Donna’s own smile seemed to fade. “Right, well, it’s gonna be more than just the three of us in that family.”

Jenny’s head tilted to the side. “What do you mean?” Was she talking about Martha? Jenny didn’t know where she was, but she’d be more than happy to have her with them, too.

“Rose is back,” said Donna, as if that explained everything. “So she’s a part of it now. Actually, it’s more likely that the three of you will be making up the family unit.”

“Why?” Jenny thought back to Rose’s shock at her appearance and her calling her father dad. She’d seemed almost scared. “Oh! Did dad adopt her?” She hadn’t really put much thought into the idea of siblings, but she was sure she could get used to it. Still didn’t explain why Donna was writing herself out of this hypothetical family.

Or why she was currently gaping at Jenny. “A-a _ dopt _ her! Why would you think that?”

Jenny shrugged. “You said she’s going to be part of the family.”

“Well,  _ yes _ , but I meant as more of a — you know, she’s — your dad and her are together,” she finally blurted.

“ _ What _ ?” It was now Jenny’s turn to gape. “But she looks like my sister!”

“Yeah, well everyone in the universe could be your sister compared to how old he is,” Donna said. “Look, it won’t be so bad. Rose is — well, she loves your father, and she’s been doing the whole traveling thing for a long time now. And- and you could have a mother of sorts.”

“But you’re my mum!” Jenny blurted without thinking.

Donna gasped. “I- I am?” She didn’t look upset, mostly hopeful.

Jenny nearly wanted to laugh. “Of course you are. You named me, you got dad to give me a chance, and you’ve been there taking care of him the whole time we’ve been separated not to mention before I was ever born. I know I’m technically less than a year old, but that sounds like a mum to me. If that’s okay with you,” she added, each word coming out faster and quieter than the one before.

“Of course it’s okay with me,” Donna said immediately. “I’d love to be your mum.”

“Okay. Mum,” Jenny replied with a grin.

Her newly official mother looked like she was tearing up. “Alright, we’ll work it out. Mothers and fathers have other boyfriends and girlfriends all the time. We’re still a family. That’s all that matters.”

Jenny nodded. She still wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about her dad’s girlfriend — particularly since her dad’s girlfriend had seemed to be the opposite of enthusiastic about her — but if her mum was there, too, she thought she could handle it. If for some reason the addition of Rose meant that her mum would not be coming along, however, then all bets were off. 

Jenny knew her parents cared for each other and needed each other. How that differed from love, she wasn’t sure, but she wanted and needed them both in her life.

“But enough of that for now. We’ve got to make sure your dad and the others are still alive first, not to mention stop whatever it is the Daleks have planned.”

“You said they’d gathered all these planets to form an engine,” Jenny said. “Well, they’d have to have some type of schematic or blueprint for what that engine does, right?”

“Yeah. And, you know, Davros broke into our call with the subwave network. I wonder if that goes both ways.”

Jenny watched her mum’s fingers fly over the keys connected to the scanner, muttering to herself occasionally. When several screens began to pop up, she gave a little cheer.

“And we’re in!”

“Way to go, mum!”

“Well, a filing system’s a filing system,” she tried to dismiss, though Jenny noticed a red tint to her cheeks. “Okay, I’ve got something here. Oh, and these look like plans to the Crucible. The whole layout of it. There’s something real important marked here.”

“Looks like some kind of power source. If we could get control of that, they probably couldn’t do what they wanted to, right?”

“Right.” Her mum looked down at the controls. “I’m not sure how to make that specific of a landing. The coordinates, I mean.”

“I can do coordinates! I had to input them into my rocket,” Jenny told her.

Her mum grinned. “And we don’t need time coordinates, so we’re set. Alright, let’s make them regret trying to dump us in the trash!”

Jenny grinned back and hurried to enter the coordinates. Her mother took up a position at the controls and they were flying again. Or dematerializing, she supposed. It was silent as well, and Jenny wasn’t sure what noise her mother had been talking about.

Her mum’s head rose sharply. “Wait, Jenny, did you set the coordinates for the power source  _ exactly _ ?”

“Yeah, why?”

The ship gave a particularly violent shudder for a moment and they both stared at each other with no small amount of fear, but eventually it settled.

“Where do you think we are?”

“No idea, but hopefully somewhere close to wherever your dad is.”

No sooner had her mum said that than they heard none other than her dad himself. And he was shouting. “Donna? Jenny?” It wasn’t till he repeated himself that Jenny realized he wasn’t angry. He was scared.

“We’re here!” They both called back.

Seconds later, the doors were being thrown open, which was good since neither of them had checked to see if they had remained locked like before. Her dad came racing up the ramp and her mum met him halfway, practically leaping into his arms.

“Safe and sound,” Jenny heard her murmur. Her dad squeezed her tighter and something like peace settled over his features.

“Donna.” Then his eyes opened, finding her. “Jenny.”

Her mum stepped back, smile on her face as she watched the two of them embrace. Jenny’s own eyes closed this time; she’d missed his hugs.

After a few moments, she felt her mother’s arm around her; her dad had pulled her back in. Jenny freed one of her arms to reciprocate, and she thought she truly knew what family felt like now.

Others were entering the ship, Jack and Rose among them, but also totally new people. She decided she’d get introduced in time.

But then her father pulled back slightly. “You’re not injured.”

“Yeah. I was healed by that energy in your hand,” she explained. “It was sort of like what happened to me on Messaline after you left but, I don’t know,  _ more _ .”

“You touched my hand?”

“So Jenny’s alive? Really this time?” A familiar voice asked, and Jenny looked up.

“Martha!”

“Am I glad to see you!” The other woman rushed forward to hug her. 

“Me too!”

“Wait, Boss, you’ve really got a daughter?” A man she didn’t know asked. “Since when?”

“She looks almost Rose’s age,” a woman said, who bore something of a resemblance to Rose at that.

“Well, time is relative,” said yet another woman.

“Alright, can we do names? I don’t even know where half of you came from,” Jenny’s mother said.

“Right, so that’s Sarah Jane Smith, Jackie Tyler, and Mickey Mouse,” said Jack, pointing out each one.

“Smith,” the man named Mickey corrected with a shake of his head.

“Okay, I’m Donna, and this is Jenny,” said her mum, rounding off the introductions. “But what happened on the Crucible? I mean, how’d you all get away from the Daleks?”

Martha shrugged. “We didn’t.”

“When the TARDIS arrived, it sort of landed where this control panel for the Crucible was,” said Rose. “I thought the Doctor must have brought it there, but he looked just as surprised.”

“Yeah, you guys probably atomized the panel when you landed,” Jack continued. “Which broke the holding fields we were stuck in, powered down the Reality Bomb, sent the planets back to the right places and times, and stopped all the Daleks in their tracks.”

“Reality Bomb?” Jenny echoed.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s gone,” said her dad, who Jenny hadn’t noticed had snuck away to kneel down by the empty glass jar. “And so’s my hand. What really happened, Jenny?”

“Well, we touched it,” she repeated.

“We?”

“Me and her,” her mother interjected, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

“Yeah, mum was about to, and I wasn’t sure what was gonna happen, so I just sort of reached out at the same time. But nothing bad happened.”

Jack was raising an eyebrow, his gaze fixed on Donna. “So you’re mum, huh?”

“Adopted, you big dumbo,” Donna said with a roll of her eyes.

“Is that okay, dad?” Jenny asked quietly, realizing she should have perhaps checked with her sole biological parent first.

“What?” He looked startled to even be asked. “Yeah, course. Course Donna’s your mum.”

“Ooh, does that mean I can call dibs on godmum?” Martha asked.

“Oh, well you have to be. She has to be,” Donna said, looking to her father.

“We can sort the rest of that out later,” he said, then stood and laid a hand on Donna’s shoulder. “But are you alright?”

“Course I am.”

“You absorbed some of my regeneration energy along with Jenny,” he said, as if he felt he needed to remind her. “Humans aren’t supposed to do that.”

“I’m fine. Well, I thought I was having a bit of chest pain, but Jenny used the stethoscope to listen, and she couldn’t hear anything odd,” her mum admitted under her dad’s disbelieving stare.

His eyes had lowered to her chest as she spoke, Jenny couldn’t help noting. “You just checked Donna’s heart?”

“Yeah, both of them are working fine.”

Her parents both turned so sharply towards her that Jenny was a little worried they’d hurt their necks.

“ _Both_ of them?” They demanded at the same time.

“Uh, yes? Sorry, is that- is that not normal?”

“Not for humans, no,” her dad informed her. “Blimey, I keep forgetting you’re so young.”

“Uneducated, more like. Did you not school her?” Jackie asked. “I shouldn’t be surprised. How could you when you’re constantly popping around the galaxy?”

“Both of them. Two. Two hearts. I have two hearts now,” her mum said as though she was checking that with the group. “How can I suddenly have two hearts? Where does the other one even  _ fit _ ?”

“Donna, focus,” her dad said. “Why did you touch my hand? That’s not like you.”

“I don’t know. I just kept hearing this- this heartbeat coming from it. It started after you put all that energy or whatever in it. I couldn’t stop myself.”

“A heartbeat,” her dad repeated. “Your second heartbeat. Drawing you in...no. No, it’s more than that.” He paced away a couple steps, then spun back on his heels. “It's like we were always heading for this. You came to the Tardis. And you found me again. Your granddad. Your car. Donna, your car,” he said, growing increasingly agitated as he stepped towards her again. “You parked your car right where the Tardis was going land. That's not coincidence at all! We've been blind. Something's been drawing us together for such a long time.”

Whatever the something was, it was doing a pretty good job, Jenny thought to herself. There was hardly space to breathe between her parents.

“But you're talking like destiny.” Her mother shook her head. “There's no such thing. Is there?”

Her dad frowned. “There’s something missing. Some element. Because, a biological two-way metacrisis is impossible. It would kill you. Except…” He turned slowly on the spot to her. “Jenny.”

“Me?”

“You touched it, too.”

“And that means that Donna’s safe?” Sarah Jane asked.

“The hand knew we were going to Messaline,” Martha spoke up. “Or it knew something about it. You said the TARDIS brought us there because of Jenny, but Doctor, what if it was more than that?”

Jack nodded, following Martha’s train of thought. “With Jenny there, your regeneration energy was able to filter through her to Donna and back, giving Donna a buffer and time for her body to process and adapt, to  _ change _ .”

“With Jenny’s biology as a template,” Martha finished. “Like a living chameleon arch.”

“But wouldn’t that mean I got some of mum’s biology as a template?” Jenny asked. “I don’t suddenly have one heart.”

“No, but — oh! No, wait!  _ Yes _ !” Her dad exclaimed.

“Yeah, can you fill in the entire sentence, Boss?” Mickey requested for everyone.

“Jenny was cloned from me. Progenation machine, takes the biological information from one organism and creates a new one.”

“So she’s not your daughter?” Asked Rose. Jenny crossed her arms. Why did she sound hopeful about that?

Her dad gave Rose a confused look. “No, she is. But she’s more than that now. See, I always thought that the reason Jenny appeared to die on Messaline was because she didn’t have enough individual genetic material to change and regenerate.” He looked back to Jenny. “Turns out, it was just a struggle for you, and you regenerated into the same form. Or maybe the Source helped you. Maybe we’ll never know.” 

“You not know something?” Jackie scoffed. “That’ll be the day.”

“But the  _ point _ is,” her dad continued as though the interruption hadn’t occurred. “it wasn’t a two-way biological metacrisis. It was a three-way.”

“Not my usual kind of three-way, but I’ll bite,” Jack said with a disappointed sigh. “What did that do?”

Her dad scowled at him, but eventually answered, “Jenny did get something in the transfer. More genetic material.”

“So she can regenerate no problem?” Martha guessed.

“Well, don’t really want to test it, but that’s the theory.”

“So Jenny has genetic material from you  _ and _ me?” Jenny’s mum restated, though with enough of an upward lilt that it came out a question.

“Yeah.” He grinned. “So she really is your daughter after all.”

A startled-sounding laugh escaped her mum, and Jenny found herself in another tight hug. She was released soon enough so that her mum could hug her dad again, which had Jenny grinning from ear to ear.

“I’ll take the extra heart just for that,” her mother declared.

“Well, it’s probably more than that,” he told her. “You’re at least part-Time Lord now. Which means…”

Her mum lifted her head from his shoulder to stare at him. “Forever?”

He swallowed and nodded, little crinkles forming at the corners of his eyes with his smile.

Her mother drew in a ragged breath, and there was a wet sheen to her eyes. Jenny thought perhaps in this moment, to them, there was no one else in the room, not even her. And there was no telling her it wasn’t love, no matter what her mum had said about girlfriends before. She clasped her hands together.and thought,  _ Please, Dad _ .

“You’re joking, right?” Rose demanded, and her parents both jumped, arms coming away from each other. “You always told me there was no such thing as forever.”

“Well, because- because there wasn’t, Rose,” her dad said. “You’re human.”

“So why does Donna get to be part-Time Lord? Why is she your ‘destiny’? Look, I know she was special and important to stopping the darkness, but I love you.”

The rest of the room was completely silent. No one seemed to know how to proceed.

After a moment, her mum took a step forward. “Rose, it’s okay. This isn’t like that—”

“No, I want to hear it from him,” Rose snapped. Her mother flinched and backed up again, closer to Jenny. Rose hardly seemed to notice, eyes fixed on Jenny’s dad. “I’ve waited years and come all this way to finally hear you say it back.”

“I…” Her father looked about the most uncomfortable she had ever seen him, even when she’d trounced his argument about not being like a soldier. “I’m sorry. Rose, I can’t.”

Rose’s voice was hard as she asked, “Why not?”

There was another silent pause. Slowly, her dad turned his head and looked back at them. Or more specifically, at her mum. Jenny had to hold in a cheer.

“Oh wow,” said Jack in an undertone.

“Well, this is a turn-up,” Mickey muttered.

“ _What_?” Her mum’s voice came out hoarse.

“I know,” said her dad, just the slightest rueful quirk to his lips.

Martha’s mouth had fallen open, and Sarah Jane was watching the whole thing wide-eyed.

“Okay,” said Rose, though it didn’t sound at all okay. “Answer me this. Is it just because I was gone?”

Her dad turned his head back to her, but his eyes were aimed more at the floor. “No.”

Rose breathed in through her nose, not quite a sniffle, and Jenny couldn’t help feeling somewhat badly for her. It wasn’t her fault that her dad had either moved on or not returned her feelings in the first place. But she had a feeling anything she might have to say wouldn’t be appreciated.

Something beeped on the console.

“What’s that?” Asked Jack.

Her dad checked it. “Dimensional retroclosure. Now that the Reality Bomb never happened, the walls between dimensions are closing back up. We should have just enough time to get to the parallel world and back.”

“Good,” said Rose. “I want to go home.”

Jackie stepped up and placed her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, a silent comfort. Somewhat subdued goodbyes were exchanged amongst the group, and as soon as the TARDIS landed — with a strange, grinding noise Jenny hadn’t heard before — the two women exited the ship, Jackie casting one last look back at Mickey.

“Mickey?” Her dad gestured to the doors the Tylers had just left through.

“Yeah, that’s the thing,” said Mickey. “It’s not really home for me anymore. My Gran passed away a few years ago. Nice and peaceful. But now there’s not really anything left for me in the parallel world.”

“You’ve been considered dead on our world for years now,” said her dad. “What will you do?”

Mickey shrugged, seeming unbothered. “Anything. Brand new life. Just you watch.”

“I think I could give you a hand in setting that up,” Jack offered. The two men grinned at each other.

“Well, if you’re sure,” her dad said. Mickey nodded. “Alright, back home, then.”

They left the parallel world behind and landed back on what Jenny presumed was Earth. She left the ship as well this time for a bit of fresh air and a look around. Plus she had some goodbyes to make.

“I’m so glad I got to see you again,” she told Martha.

“Yeah, well don’t be a stranger. And no dying,” Martha instructed her. She pulled her into a hug. “I’ll want to hear everything later, but right now I’ve got to check on my mum. And talk to UNIT about a certain Osterhagen Key.”

“And I’ve got to go see how my own spontaneously created son is doing,” Sarah Jane remarked. “He’s only fourteen. It’s a long story. But you know, Doctor,” she added. “I’d say between all of us is the biggest family on Earth.” She hugged him, which he returned with a grin. Jenny was surprised when the woman turned and hugged her as well. “Try and keep him out of trouble, won’t you? And thank you!”

Jack didn’t get more than two steps out of the TARDIS before her dad was grabbing his wrist and using the sonic on his vortex manipulator. “I told you, no teleport. You’re going to be busy setting Mickey up, anyway.”

“Was worth a try,” the Captain said, throwing Jenny a wink. Then he, too, folded her into a hug. “I sure am glad you’re around. Let us know how it goes with those two. You know.”

She pulled back and gave him a single nod. Mickey hugged her as well after bumping fists with her dad, and then the two men were off, jogging after Martha by the looks of it.

“We’ll see them all again, right?” Jenny asked her father.

“I think so. Anyway, still got me and your mum.” He held the door open for her, then followed her back inside the ship.

Her mother was just hanging up with who Jenny assumed were her family. As she ended the call and turned back to them, silence descended in the console room.

“Well,” her dad said, a slight squeak to it. He looked to her mum, who met his eyes before looking away and tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

This wasn't going to do at all. Time to force the matter.

“So, you two obviously need to talk,” said Jenny. “I think I’m gonna go have a look around my new home. Have fun!”

She hurried off down a corridor before either of them could ask her to stay. With any luck, her parents were now finally ready to both admit to what she’d been able to see between them less than a day after being born. And anyway, she had exploring to do.

—-

_ Two years later _

“Jenny, sweetheart, do you mind getting that?”

“Sure thing, mum!” Jenny called back over the whistling of the kettle. She’d just finished making up a tray with a few sandwiches for good measure, and after a minor debate decided on three mugs. Her dad was taking the lazy day to do some long overdue TARDIS maintenance, but he was sure to seek them out eventually.

She found her mother eased back against the sofa cushions in the library. Jenny set the tray down on the coffee table and passed her one of the steaming mugs, seeing as she wouldn’t be able to reach very well on her own without overbalancing.

“Thanks, love,” her mum said with a grateful smile. “I would’ve gotten it. It’s just I finally managed to find a comfortable position here.”

“Don’t feel bad, mum. If my feet were that swollen, I wouldn’t want to be getting up anytime soon,” she remarked, sitting in the armchair opposite.

“Oi,” her mum chided her. Then she sighed. “Yeah, suppose you’re right.”

“You’re having twins,” Jenny pointed out. “Anybody’s feet would be swollen.”

“Did I hear the kettle?” Asked her dad as he entered the room.

“There’s some for you,” Jenny answered his unasked question.

Her dropped a kiss to her forehead. “Thanks.” Then he went round the table to give her mum a kiss, one of his hands briefly caressing her rounded belly. “What are we talking about?”

“My aching feet,” Her mum told him.

“Is that so?” He walked to the other end of the couch and lifted her ankles, then dropped into the available space before letting them fall back into his lap. He took hold of one of her feet immediately after. “Well, something’s got to be done about that.”

Her mum sighed in contentment as he started to massage it, head falling back onto the cushions. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“You know, you don’t usually ask that so nicely,” her dad pointed out.

“Yeah, well, it’s hard to be cross when you’ve got two little ones constantly sending you all the safety and love they can possibly feel directly into your brain,” she replied. On the coffee table, her phone chirped with an incoming message. Jenny sprung up to pass it to her. “Seriously, I could have gotten it this time. I don’t want you always putting yourself out.”

“It’s no trouble, mum. Anyway, go on. What’s it say?”

Her mother was still shaking her head as she opened the phone, but upon reading the message a smile lit up her face. “Martha and Mickey are making it official. Isn’t that nice?”

“Oh. Suppose that was coming any day now,” her dad remarked.

“Yeah. She says they’re still planning, but she wants me and Jenny to be bridesmaids,” her mum added with a smile Jenny’s way. Then she looked back to her dad. “Course you realize this is just gonna get mum hounding us about tying the knot.”

“She’s got and getting grandchildren. What more can she ask for?” He grumbled.

“Oi, don’t test my mum,” Jenny’s own mother warned, setting both phone and mug aside on her own before Jenny could offer to help. “Let the sleeping dragon lie.”

“Yes, Madame,” her dad sighed, switching to her mum’s other foot. He looked over and shared a grin with Jenny. Sylvia Noble, though indeed fretting about Jenny’s parents’ unmarried state, had been much more pleasant ever since she’d been brought into the picture and even more so with the twins on the way. Jenny, for her part, liked her grandmum well enough, adored her great-gramps, and couldn’t wait to be a big sister. Her godmum getting her happily ever after with Mickey, who was already something of an uncle or big brother, was just the icing on the cake. She could already envision the days leading up to the wedding spent with Jack and his boyfriend Ianto as well as the rest of the Torchwood team, Sarah Jane and Luke and his friends, and even Martha’s own family.

Those days of traveling on her own felt like a distant past life, even though they still represented just about a third of her time in the universe. But the time she’d had now with her parents and extended family, and what was to come with her new siblings, had swept the loneliness away.

Looking at her dad as he watched her mum slowly falling asleep under his ministrations, Jenny thought he felt exactly the same.


End file.
